In South America the sacred use of the psychedelic ayahuasca has moved from the native populations of the Amazon Basin into the urban centers where it is the central sacrament in their religious praxis.

The Greek presbuteros ‘elder’ was used in the New Testament for ‘elder of the church, priest’ and became presbyter in Latin, which passed into Old English as preost, modern ‘priest’. Presbyter is also the source of presbytery (Late Middle English) and Presbyterian (mid 17th century). The usual Latin word for priest was sacerdos from sacer ‘holy’, which is the source of many words including sacrament (Middle English), sacred (Late Middle English), sacrifice (Middle English), and the opposite execrate (mid 16th century) ‘to curse’. The related sacrilege comes from Latin sacrilegus ‘stealer of holy things’. See also saint